About the Artist

Ashley’s formal training as an illustrator has guided her painting toward representational subject matter. Early on in her career, she was commissioned to paint portraits (of both two and four-legged subjects) and architectural renderings for private individuals. She has also created work for corporate clients such as the manufacturer of Jack Daniels, and for nonprofit clients including Oxfam America.

While earning her master’s in art business at the Sotheby’s Institute of Art London, Ashley was heavily influenced by artists such as William Morris and the vast collections of textile arts housed in British institutions including the Victoria & Albert Museum. Her recent work is a marriage of her technical training and experience in painting the illusion of three-dimensional form with her love of two-dimensional pattern. She brings everything full-circle by using her original artworks to develop new patterns that are custom printed on fabric and sewn by Ashley into a variety of textile products, which you can browse in her shop.

Apropos of the “Steel City,” Ashley’s studio is in an old industrial warehouse retrofitted for artists’ work spaces. This is where she produces original artwork on canvas and board, and develops the corresponding patterns. All of the stitchery happens in the textile department of Pittsburgh’s Techshop (a space full of machinery and equipment at the disposal of makers for the cost of a gym membership). The cohabitants of her varied work spaces guarantee fascinating encounters – from a chat with a choreographer, to borrowing a screwdriver from an engineer.

When away from the easel or sewing machine, Ashley dotes over her son, entertains with her husband, and also serves on the board of the Pittsburgh Society of Illustrators.